MediaTek on track for quarterly target

Despite a small 3.56 percent decline in revenue last month, MediaTek Inc (聯發科) looks on track to meet its revenue target for this quarter.

Revenue fell to NT$12.75 billion (US$426.4 million) last month from a record-high of NT$13.22 billion in July, the nation’s top handset chip supplier said in a statement.

With July and last month’s sales reaching NT$25.97 billion, the chipmaker looks set to meet its quarterly revenue target of NT$34.9 billion. Over the past five years, MediaTek’s September revenue grew an average of 2.15 percent from August.

Lau attributed the growth to strong demand for MediaTek’s smartphone chips used in low-end models.

MediaTek yesterday said Alcatel has adopted its quad-core M6589 processor for its flagship smartphone, which is marketed by TCL Communication Technology (TCL通訊) in China.

Company president Hsieh Ching-jiang (謝清江) told investors early this month that rising demand for chips used in smartphones and tablets in China would boost its sales by 5 to 13 percent from NT$33.28 billion last quarter.

Hsieh expected shipments of smartphone chips to expand 18 percent to as high as 65 million units this quarter from 55 billion units last quarter. Smartphone chips are Mediatek’s biggest revenue source, accounting for more than half of its revenue.

The company also hopes that the hiring of former Qualcomm executive Kristin Taylor, who joined the company on Tuesday, could help it further expand market share. Taylor had worked for Qualcomm Inc for 15 years, MediaTek said.

“Hiring Qualcomm executives may increase the odds for MediaTek to penetrate Samsung’s hold on the low to mid-end smartphone market,” Lau said.

Samsung is expected to ship 200 million low to mid-range smartphones this year, Lau said.

“A 20 percent penetration rate could amount to 40 million units, a significant driver for MediaTek,” he said.